I am in better spirits tonight than I have been in a while . Had a pleasantly eventful day , tried some new foods , and enjoyed some jovial company . We went with our friends to a buffet restaurant in Swansea , Hokkaido, which serves Japanese , American , and Chinese food . When times were better financially , we would make a trip to the Metro area once or twice a month . Now that we are stretching finances fairly thin , it's been at least several months since we had done this . We always like trying new places , and new tastes , so this was great fun for us . Being treated was even nicer . I had several varieties of chicken , including Indian , which I had not tried before . At least three different kinds of sliced beef , different styles of shrimp , sushi and sashimi , mac and cheese , crab rangoon , eggroll , and 2 glasses of Pepsi . The total cost for 4 of us was a few cents shy of $ 60 , which is not bad for a Saturday evening meal in the city . The table service was good , the dining room fairly clean , restrooms not so much . It was busy but not too crowded , and our male friend got to try frog legs and "crawl fish" (sic) for his first time . He didn't really care for either , but I'm not sure they were prepared to American style taste . Overall , the food was good , slightly blander than this old " pepper belly " prefers , worth trying again if in the area but not deserving of a special trip . The only real downside to my day was overactive bowels . I had my normal morning movement , then an hour later the first of six , count'em six , releases of pure liquid . The only non-usual thing I I had ingested was 2 filet-o-fish yesterday for lunch . I'd only had McD's maybe twice in six months , and I don't know why it affected me thusly this time . Usually the impact is just horrendous , odifferous gas . This wasn't really diarrhea , as it was never an immediate emergency , and caused no crap catastrophes at any time . After all was said and done , including a stop at Schnuck's , we had quite a fulfilling evening out . Well , enough of my gastronomic and fecal adventures for one day , good night , treat each other well , and may God less you all .